JonS

Yup
 

 

 
In their study of Confederate symbols in the contemporary Southern United States, the Southern political scientists James Michael Martinez, William Donald Richardson, and Ron McNinch-Su wrote:


 
 
Southern historian Gordon Rhea further wrote in 2011 that:

Yup
 

 

 
In their study of Confederate symbols in the contemporary Southern United States, the Southern political scientists James Michael Martinez, William Donald Richardson, and Ron McNinch-Su wrote:


 
 
Southern historian Gordon Rhea further wrote in 2011 that:

Yup
 

 

 
In their study of Confederate symbols in the contemporary Southern United States, the Southern political scientists James Michael Martinez, William Donald Richardson, and Ron McNinch-Su wrote:


 
 
Southern historian Gordon Rhea further wrote in 2011 that:

Germany forces game studios already to remove Nazi flags from the localized german versions of their games. Or to be more accurate, Germany doesnt actually force the game studios to remove the flag, games containing nazi symbols are just not allowed to be sold in stores, which leads to the game studios voluntarily removing the symbols in question. It' s still possible to get uncensored games by simply buying them online from US suppliers though.
 
According to german law, nazi symbols must not be shown in public unless for educational or documentary purposes. It' s perfectly fine to have a Nazi flag at home hanging in your bedroom, to put one on display in a history museum or to print one in a school book (given that it' s put in proper historical context).

http://www.wargamer.com/Article/10202

More detail on the topic ...

Kevin

That would be the Armata Armada getting anywhere in the world in 7 hours...

My mistake - the JPz IV were in SS-Pz.Jager-Abt. 17 (duh ).
 
Zetterling (Normandy 1944) says StuG IIIs only in the Pz Abt, and no StuG IV anywhere in Normandy.

I find this discussion very interesting because it made me examine my own motivation and desires for what I create and share online. It's not just about scenario or map design, it's about anything one does without recompense and gives freely to others.

I have yet to share the maps I've made but I intend to. What I have shared are my Comic AARs, which are each 100+ hours of work. I did them for fun, because I could. I did them because I genuinely enjoyed doing them. But were I unable to share them - say for lack of a venue - I doubt I'd bother after the first one, when the novelty is over. I do them because I do wish for reaction, feedback - not just appreciation, though of course this is most welcome - but because I want to have the feeling that the effort itself is in some measure appreciated or recognized.

I can't speak for Umlaut, but he may feel this resonates:

-it's not about getting $0.99 per comic or map or scenario. Sure if one could make a living off it legally it might be another matter but then it's a business and not a gift to the community or something done for oneself.
-it's not about getting "ratings" such as a star rating or whatnot. Certainly getting a high rating in any system is a nice thing but if that was the limit of the feedback, I don't think I'd be as enthused as I am when someone asks me if my story is going in one direction or another, or that I changed some graphical style and why, or telling me my German was slightly off in a particular panel.

What I think it's about - for me - is engaging with the community, having a dialogue about what I've done, offering suggestions, giving me something to think about. The appreciation certainly is a huge part of that, but if every person who read my comics were to say "nice job" and leave it at that I would be grateful but still feel something lacking. I do want to interact, and not just collect praise.

I think this is something one sees when one is designing a scenario or map and posts WIP screenshots. One gets ideas, discussion and contribution and it's no longer simply a passive affair. Once the scenario is done, as has been noted, the interaction stops and I think it's natural for a designer to want it to continue.

So it's not that anyone is right or wrong in this discussion - certainly designers want something in return for their effort because these creations are a huge amount of time and effort and thought. But those who say design for yourself and you'll be less disappointed are correct in part as well - I do make things for myself, but I'd likely stop were I to operate in a vacuum because how many times does one wish to repeat the same task.

What this says to me is that I make things because I want to, I'm inspired, I'm curious, I'm excited to explore something and want to challenge myself, but that it does not end there. I share what I create because now I want to see if my vision, my creation, matters in some way to anyone else. Only the most dedicated and passionate about their craft will bother to work for hundreds of hours on something purely for themselves; others will stop, feeling that nice as it is, they have made a masterpiece only to shove it in the attic, and that is a pity and a loss to the community, in my view.

An obvious thing that would go a long way to addressing a lot of the concerns here is a good "Scenario Depot".    
 
For a really decent amount of time, GJK's Scenario Depot delivered the goods on providing a place where scenario designers could give each other feedback, and get input from users.    
 
Unfortunately (to augusto's point) all good things come to an end.   GJK made a couple of unfortunate decisions in how the thing operated.   BFC's own repo started to draw scenario traffic away.  Downwards spiral.  CMx2 came out and GJK didn't support it.  The End.
 
 
It is conceivable the new Repo might open the possibility of some of the features/benefits of TSD being provided again.    I have my eyes on this, as we are navigating our way through the Mirkwood of Initial Configuration.
 
GaJ

This is terribly true.
 
I have a bunch of scenarios I've downloaded from various places that I have had for years, but not yet played. I am currently playing one that is - I think - about 6 years old (Bloody St Omer, by @Fredrocker)*. I have a list of notes and observations about this excellent scenario that is currently four (4) pages long ... and I strongly suspect I might be wasting my time, simply because of the age of the scenario. Nevertheless, over the last year or so, I've started providing detailed feedback on the PBEM scenarios I've played direct to the designer (rather than publicly), but given that I only finish 4 or 5 scenarios a year, that's still not a great quantity of feedback compared to the number of scenarios out there.
 
* and even older than that when you consider it is an extract from a campaign, which is itself a port of a campaign originally created for CMAK (or CMBO?).
 
@SlySniper:
 
 
This is mostly true, I think. It is definitely nice to hear unsolicited feedback from players who enjoyed a scenario, but in general they have little idea of the limitations and constraints of scenario design, nor the effort involved in 'simple' things. As a case in point, @JasonC has some fairly trenchant things to say about scenario design, which is fair enough and in some cases interesting, but the body of his comments makes it abundantly clear he has never opened the editor nor attempted to create a scenario in CMx2. For example. Experienced scenario designers will readily recognise the problems here. 
 
Directed feedback from playtesters is generally of a lot more practical use.
 
Edit: re-reading that last line, it occurs to me that feedback serves a couple of purposes. By 'practical use' I meant feedback that I can use to improve current and future scenarios. Which is definitely one use for feedback. But it isn't the only one - unsolicited feedback is really useful for validating the existence and effort designers have put into something - a simple "I like this thing you made" can really make a designer's day.

I am reading your comments Umlaut, but even with that I am not sure I know what you are looking for.

I am pretty certain you know I appreciate your work and have given you feedback. It is frankly appreciated, but the nature of scenarios (length of time before the player actually gets around to completing) and the fact that only a small percentage of the community even participates in the forum means by default feedback will be very limited.

Well recognised!   It's Sheriff of Oosterbeek, and it's a fabulous map.    
 
I was so struck by this little scene (regrettably off in the distance from my forces) it reminded me of your comment:
 

 
... what a beautiful row of terraced houses and back yards.   Not even near an objective, or especailly tactically significant.   Just artistic!

Ok let's try something shall we?
 
I followed Jim's suggestion of a dot inside a dot. The shapes are so small that changing them didn't get great results, there are too few pixels to work with.
 
White empty squares + White squares with a black dot filler. The empty square means nothing there, the square filled with a dot means there's a man there, besides, that becomes closer to a circle than a square.
What do you think of this modification of the UI for the passengers on a vehicle?
 

 
Are the crew blue dots a problem too?
 
 
Ian, great site that was! I uploaded this one above and now much better understand the problem! Thanks a lot.

Who're you talking about - Kettler, or Suvorov?

Although, actually, either way the answer is the same

Enough about you - more importantly is the pickup truck okay?

Mark Twain once wrote his paper to inform them: "The rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated."
 
To those who have expressed concern for my health and well-being, my thanks and I will reply to you individually as soon as I can get my e-mail program to send as well as receive. For all of you who may be interested, I will write a more detailed report as soon as I can and post it in the GF, which is I think a more appropriate forum for such discussions. But not to keep you in too much suspense, I will say here that on the 26th. of March I was struck by a pickup truck which resulted in 11 broken ribs and a broken clavicle (no, that is not a baroque musical instrument). Since then I have spent five days in hospital and about two and a half months in a nursing facility and only arrived home today. I am in pretty good shape due to some good rehab work by some dedicated people. More later.
 
Michael

Thanks guys.
 
From the link:
Actually, eyewitness accounts are invariably terrible in terms of technical accuracy.
 
On the otherhand:
Yep, and the reference to HE as well as ATR is interesting and makes the effort seem a lot more sensible.
 
and
Aye, so their effect against hollow charge probably wasn't purely serendipitous.
 
 
 
That I can believe. Own-side claims are terribly unreliable, which is why - for example - those wartime 'know your enemy' handbooks are interesting curios, but not particularly useful. other than for getting an idea of what the Americans thought the Germans were up to.
 
and this
is exactly the kind of thing that makes me a bit dubious about the skirts being purely a response to ATRs.

Thanks guys.
 
From the link:
Actually, eyewitness accounts are invariably terrible in terms of technical accuracy.
 
On the otherhand:
Yep, and the reference to HE as well as ATR is interesting and makes the effort seem a lot more sensible.
 
and
Aye, so their effect against hollow charge probably wasn't purely serendipitous.
 
 
 
That I can believe. Own-side claims are terribly unreliable, which is why - for example - those wartime 'know your enemy' handbooks are interesting curios, but not particularly useful. other than for getting an idea of what the Americans thought the Germans were up to.
 
and this
is exactly the kind of thing that makes me a bit dubious about the skirts being purely a response to ATRs.

Well, that whole statement is, to borrow a phrase, deeply hypocritical.
 
"Good" Arab countries - what does that even mean? The ones that'll meekly do your bidding? The ones that'll provide resources at rock bottom prices? The ones that'll shaft their own population in order to get a cut of the profits made from allowing multinationals to run amok without regulation?
 


You're just playing this for the lulz, right?

And you were doing so well!

No calls back yet. Tried again but still no answer.
So get this...why does this maybe mean a bit more to me? Beyond just being fellow forumites and having respect for Michael (age ~71) as I have seen his posts as helpful, etc.
Well, always for many many years now I saw his profile and he is actually from a town maybe a half hour or so from where my older sister lives! 
In fact I just chatted with my sister, she is a nurse and she will get boots on the ground to pass him a short note I e-mailed to her for us maybe tomorrow as she heads to work in Seattle.
Your buddies from Battlefront website say a warm hello, hope you have a quick recovery and please swing by the combat mission forums soon to say hello.
I told her to maybe grab some flowers!

It was such an ingenious post I had to write it twice...but decided to edit it...'cause true genius knows when less is more.
 
 
Mord.

Hi fellas. On the phone for several hours. neighbors, police, churches, apartment manager, etc.
The bad news is he was reported to have been injured in some type of motor vehicle accident back around March the officer said.
Then he went to a convalescent hospital but they are unable to tell me anything other than "not listed as a resident at this time"...
Good news: property manager finally answered my 2nd call and she says he is doing well and she'll give him my number to call me.

Now John, is this topic really valid for the CMSF Forum?
 
I have a link to a story on how Doctors at the Mayo Clinic are using re-engineered AIDS virus cells to kill Leukemia cells in children and adults, with a 90% full remission rate. This story is far more uplifting and shows how hard we are working to alleviate human suffering, while ISIS continues to ravage the Middle East in its attempt to turn back the clock 800 years.
 
Which would you rather read?
 
This is a game forum not a world events forum, John please learn the difference.

Hi DAF, good to see you again. I haven't seen you around for a while, I think?
 
 


This is such an easy thing to say, so I'm guessing there must be a reason why the editor has as many moving parts as it does. What do you actually mean by a 'simplified scen editor' - what would you simplify? Larger terrain tiles? Fewer terrain options? Less unit types? No AI? What, exactly, do you want less of?

Besides, the scenario editor is only as complex as you make it. If you make an infantry-only (no tanks to worry about, and play balance is easier because the outcome doesn't swing on the retention or loss of a single vehicle), H2H-only (so no AI to program), attack/defend battle (again, play balance is easier when one side is clearly the defender and the other is the attacker) on a tiny map (so much less time spent in the map editor) with a platoon or less on each side (again; easier play balance) ... it really doesn't take long to make that, and it really isn't difficult.

It's when you start making multi-company or multi-battalion battles on a map that measures several kilometres on each axis, with several AI plans for each side ... yeesh. My heart quails just thinking about it. The problem is that 'everyone' thinks that it's only the big scenarios which are 'good', or that big is somehow easier, or some other weird idea. Or they start with a fairly modest scenario and think 'Oh, I should add a company of Tigers - yeah, that'll be cool. But, hmm, now I need to add some Fireflies to balance things, and 500m extra on each map edge to make space for all this extra stuff, and because the map is going to be so big I really should add some more infantry and some more artillery, and ... oh. Look. My scenario is huge! And it's got so many neat toys in it! Cool!'
 
No. Big scenarios aren't any of those things. Big scenarios are a chore to make, so only a small fraction actually get finished. And, for all but a very small minority of players, the few huge scenarios that do actually get finished are just a chore to play.

Make small scenarios. They're really easy, and people will actually play them. Repeatedly.

Jon